Remit
Etymology
From Latin "remittere" (to send back, slacken, release), from "re-" (back) and "mittere" (to send). The verb still means to send payment or to cancel a debt; the noun sense — one’s assigned scope, as in "outside my remit" — grew from the idea of a matter sent to someone to handle.
noun · /REE-mit/
The area of responsibility or authority given to a person or body.
What it names
A crisp British term for the boundary of your job — what falls to you to decide and what does not.
Example
Enforcing parking rules simply wasn’t within the committee’s remit.
Related idea
A remit is the scope of authority handed to you; a mandate is the authority plus the instruction to act — a remit marks the fence, a mandate the marching orders.
verb · /REE-mit/
To send money in payment; also, to refer a matter to an authority, or to cancel or hold back a debt or punishment.
What it names
The sending of payment, and by extension official acts of referring or forgiving.
Example
Please remit the balance within thirty days of the invoice date.
Related idea
A remitted debt is one an authority chooses not to collect — the opposite of enforcing every proviso to the letter.
See also